


Crashing Into You

by LittleKittenGirl



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One
Genre: Family Feels, Gen, Loss of Parent(s), Minor Character(s), Not Canon Compliant, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Paranoia, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Rebirth, Robotics, Seeker Trines, Species Swap, Suspicions, Transformer Sparklings, Transformers Spark Bonds
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-22
Updated: 2019-03-22
Packaged: 2019-11-28 03:47:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18203096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleKittenGirl/pseuds/LittleKittenGirl
Summary: Five years after a disastrous accident, Artemis and Apollo Starr are living with their aunt and two cousins away from their shared past. But a meeting at their favourite family hangout goes terribly wrong, and they are forced to pick up the pieces of their lives once again in the aftermath.Except that this time, they're dealing with their own deaths, an inconvenient change in species, grieving Seekers that are after them, and the hatred and suspicion of the faction they have sought protection in. And now they no longer have their aunt to lift them back up again...*On Haitus Due To Brain Block*





	Crashing Into You

“Have to have high, high hopes for a living, shooting for the stars when I couldn’t make a killing…”

 

I sang aloud along to the song, a hand tapping the tabletop and another fiddling with a pen. An open notebook stared up at me, a few lines already filled. The music blasted in my ears and my headphones hugged my head snugly.

 

“Artemis! Take off those headphones!” I tapped the pause on the video and flipped down said headphones so that they hung around my neck. My head swivelled over to my aunt. Her hazel eyes that I so admired burned in irritation and the slightest hint of worry. “That was the fifth time I called for you! How loud are you making them?”

 

My pen began to tap the notebook absentmindedly. “Um, loud enough to block the construction work going on next door?” I looked down to my lap sheepishly.

 

“My word. Maybe your father should have named _you_ Apollo. Given your love for the musical and literary arts.” A faint smile tugged at the corners of my lips. That was, admittedly, very much true. My twin was athletic, sure, but that was the martial arts training and his self-imposed role of ‘big brother’. He preferred to review games for a bit of extra cash and to read some of those memoirs he loved so much up in our room. Not to mention his bashfulness. Compared to Wonder God Apollo, his name was very much misleading.

 

He had even gotten a part-time job as a mechanic with me. We both worked at this little garage down in town and while most of the work was the same old, same old, sometimes we were able to get our hands on something really nice, like a Porsche or once even a Lamborghini. I would have preferred a job in the neighbouring forest, which was one of the only things linking me to my namesake, but dealing with engines and repairing automobiles was admittedly fascinating. If only Dad was able to see how well we turned out.

 

My smile dropped. Aunt Alexis must have noticed my shift in mood because she quickly changed the subject. “Well, I’m taking Apollo and Cade over to the forest tomorrow for a day in the great outdoors. Want to come along?” She smirked as I shot up. That wasn’t a squeal, it really wasn’t. It was just me expressing my excitement. My eyes must have gotten huge.

 

“What do you think, la mia amarosa zia?”, I replied admittedly rather cheekily. I flew across the room, notebook snapped shut in my hand and headphone cord waving behind. Racing up the stairs and across the upper floor, it didn’t take long to get the ladder out. I could faintly hear her mumbling about how much I was like my father before the attic door slammed shut. Apollo was perched on his bed, a smug grin on the fragger’s face. I stuck my tongue out at him in an incredibly mature manoeuvre and he chuckled.

 

My twin had grown a long way from the skinny little thing he had been five years ago. His light blond hair had become smooth with the slightest curl, and he had grown into his height of 6’2 feet gracefully. His warm brown eyes were still the same as ever, and that cocky little smile of his hadn’t suffered from time and maturation in the slightest. He was actually rather modest, but you wouldn’t know it if you saw him walking along the street.

 

He watched me as I raced all over the room in a blur. It’d only be a day trip, so maybe a change of clothing, my notebook, my stash of pens and pencils, my on-the-go repair kit, a few extra granola bars to keep the low blood pressure at bay,  a few extra pairs of socks, my swiss army knife, a bag of matches, a handful of candles… “Po, you know where I stuck my book of blueprints? Oh, and I can’t find Heylel! Gah, where’s my butterfly projects? Those throwing stars are somewhere around here…” I heard him snort at some of my thoughts.

 

Like he wouldn’t do the same. We didn’t take those self-defence lessons for on a mere whim. And yeah, I probably wouldn’t get to work on my little projects, but hell would freeze over long, long before the day I left them in the house without someone there to keep a burglar at bay. Yeah, okay, I may be a bit paranoid.

 

“Yeah, yeah. Tell me that the day I’m the one fending off some danger from a safe distance.” Ah, there’s my iPod. That and a pair of earbuds was tossed in my bag as well. Heylel and the butterflies went into their respective protective boxes, and the morning stars were laid out in their holster. Maybe I should bring along a few character bios…

 

“The TF box is right here,” my brother reminded me. Transformers was literally the only thing of fiction he could stand, and was a shared interest. We’d even made a few books of Cybertronian history, culture, anatomy… It was the Starr family way. When we did something, we did it all the way.

 

I dove in and practically stuffed all the notebooks and sketchbooks inside the messenger bag. There were about half of the contents already missing, probably in Apollo’s backpack. I spared a glance towards his bag, a normal looking school-bag that held more than should be realistically possible. He probably had half of our makeshift armoury somewhere inside, along with the normal slag and a few autobiographies in case he got bored. The idiot didn’t have to deal with the same medical problems as myself, so he didn’t need to stuff in an arm-load of snacks and sugary health foods. Lucky fragger.

 

“You taking your Allspark Shard necklace? I’m taking mine.”

 

“Naw, just the Autobot dog tags. You?”

 

I grinned at him and sat on my finally finished bag of doodahs. “And the Autobot insignia earrings. Actually,” I pursed my lips in thought. “I’ll just keep my Shard in my pocket.”

 

“Please tell me you aren’t going to wear that loose white shirt again.”

 

“Yup! And my jeans and black hiking boots.” He sighed in exasperation, as my grin changed into a scrap-eating smirk.

 

“That’s gonna catch on something and you know it.” The shirt in question was a cute off-the-shoulder number with puffy sleeves that reached to my elbows. I had worn it the last time we had gone and had spent an hour cleaning it afterwards.

 

“Don’t care,” I responded in a sing-song tone. I walked over to the window and plopped my elbows up on the sill. A shiver ran through me. Something was going to happen tomorrow. I could only hope that I was prepared for it.

 

* * *

 

A little finger kept poking me in the side. I ignored it with practised ease. Cade gave me one last poke and crossed his arms, a cute little pout settling on his sweet little face. A smirk crept up on my own. “Art’mis!” He whined. I booped him on the nose, and his frown broke into a happy smile that threatened to break his face in half. My cousin was the cutest little thing to ever cross the face of this planet, and that was just fact.

 

He giggled and tapped my own snozzle in retaliation. Apollo radiated smugness and serenity as he ignored both of our antics. He had won the argument on where we’d go for our outing, and we were heading to the waterfall caverns as a consequence. It wasn’t bad, per se, but I had really wanted to go to the more dense forest area to hike. It was beautiful at this time of the year, and I really wanted to take advantage of the lovely weather we were having.

 

Elizabeth had decided to stay at home with Raymond, her boyfriend. Aunt Alexis didn’t often let this sort of thing happen, but things had become far looser after we discovered our fifteen-year-old cousin was asexual. She was only interested in the platonic and romantic side of things, and that had fit us all just fine. It also helped that Ray was apparently trans, so Auntie didn’t have to worry about a pregnant daughter.

 

I honestly was slightly worried that I was as well, but that was because I wanted to experience the full package. And apparently finding boys hot leant away from that probability. It was probably Apollo’s fault that I hadn’t had a romantic partner yet with his overprotectiveness. That was my reasoning, anyway.

 

“We’re here, guys!” Aunt Alexis gave us one of her famous cheery smiles. I was one of the only ones of the family to not inherit the breathtaking movie-star-worthy smiles. Dad had those too, once upon a time. We all piled out, and I adjusted my messenger bag more comfortably. A picture of me, him and Apollo hung in a keychain that I kept well polished, along with the Autobot insignia next to the Decepticon one. I knew for a fact that Po had one as well.

 

Apollo took the lead, strolling comfortably into the familiar forest path. The green summer leaves lay like a canopy over us, trees climbing high into the sky. When I was younger, I used to think that this was a great place for the Autobots to do patrols comfortably. Now I would shove such childish thoughts away. They were the useless fantasies of a child, one I no longer was.

 

The crunch of pine needles and sticks beneath our feet, Cade giggling up on Po’s shoulders, the faint sound of birdsong twittering in the breeze… this was why I loved the forest.

 

All too soon, we reached the waterfall. The song of the crashing water made me pause so I could fully appreciate the simple beauty of one of nature’s greatest treasures. Auntie paused at the clearing’s edge and looked back at me. Worry clouded her eyes. I gave her a smile, shrugged it off and continued on behind her.

 

The day passed quickly. We explored the woods surrounding us, splashed in the waterfall’s shallow pool, sunbathed, and had our lunch. We had to prevent Cade from sticking a few mushrooms into his mouth a few times, but it still was relatively peaceful.

 

As the sun began to disappear behind the canopy of trees, Cade began to beg us to take him behind to waterfall. Aunt Alexis trusted us to be responsible, and after we changed, we slung our bags back on and headed over the ledge we had walked so often. I took a last moment to wave at our aunt, and she waved back. We had done this so often that the thin ledge could even be crossed easily by Cade himself with his little backpack.

 

“Now, we’re going to go a bit deeper than normal this time, sweetspark.” I smiled at my twin’s stage whisper and our six-year-old cousin’s eager excitement. It was a bit of a tradition of Dad’s to go to a special little place in these caves, and it was wonderfully bittersweet to pass it onto Cade.

 

As we passed into the specified place, the little boy fell silent in awe. I looked up to the cavern ceiling to see the beautiful glowing crystals scattered all over. It resembled the night sky, and Dad had whispered how if you wished on one of the stones then the wish would come true. My smile drooped. Their beauty just wasn’t the same any longer. The crystals were pretty, but now they were just glowing rocks. The wonder was gone, swept away with my father.

 

Apollo appeared so happy as he whispered the cavern’s secrets to our cousin in hushed tones, and I strolled over to the side. A particularly large crystal jutted out of the rocky wall, and I chipped off a piece to give to Cade. The little boy lit up as I passed him the crystal fragment.

 

“Keep this safe,” I whispered dramatically in his ear, and he nodded seriously before clutching the crystal close. He smiled brightly up at me, before going back to looking over the bioluminescent underground lake.

 

Suddenly, the floor began to shake. I scooped Cade up and ran over to the entrance of the cave. I could sense my brother running behind as we raced through the tunnels. The boy buried his head in my chest, blue eyes once so joyful beginning to water. My heart ached to comfort him, to tell him it was going to be alright, but I had to focus on my legs as we raced towards the entrance. Tears began to bubble up in my eyes, making my eyesight blur.

 

Crunch, crunch, crunch. We had to make it. Apollo was innocent! I couldn’t see him gone, lost to this world to whatever lay beyond, cold and pale. Not again.

 

Cade was only a child! He didn’t deserve to end this way!

 

Our father hadn’t deserved his end either.

 

Crunch, crunch, crunch.

 

I spotted the light and the water flowing down outside the opening. My fingers reached over out the end, my twin’s hand ghosting my shoulder. Fingertips paled to white as sunlight ran over the very tips. I could hear the shaking of the rocks above, and how a stalactite broke free. I could hear the whimpers of Cade grow into a cry of terror, the rushing curtain of water baring us from freedom, the panicked yells of our aunt muffled in my adrenaline-raised haze.

 

A scream shattered the air as unbearable agony rained down on me, and rocks piled up over us. I couldn’t tell who it came from.

 

Then, there was only darkness.  


* * *

 

I was in a silvery desert, unlike any of the golden dunes I had seen before. My bag was still slung over my shoulder, and Cade was clinging to my leg. I wasn’t even bleeding. A sense of wrong otherness, like the kind that once hit me five years ago yet so very much _not_ , pressed down on me like the world on the titan Atlas’ shoulders. A hand pressed into the small of my back, and I looked up to my twin. He looked down at me worriedly, confusion and protectiveness swirling in his eyes. I snaked my arm around his waist and held him securely, shooting him what I hoped was a reassuring smile. He didn’t look convinced.

 

“Art’mis?” I turned my attention over to my cousin. He was clutching my leg like a lifeline, trembling like a leaf in the wind. The blue crystal I had given him mere minutes ago was still in his hand. He looked up to me, eyes big and teary. “Wher’ we?”

 

“I… don’t know.” My voice was scratchy and sore as if I hadn’t drunk anything in a long while. I swallowed thickly and tried to find something reassuring to say. I couldn’t.

 

Apollo squeezed my shoulder. “We’ll be fine.” He stressed the end of the sentence as if he were trying to convince himself. Cade seemed doubtful.

 

I scanned the landscape suspiciously. This place wasn’t somewhere on Earth, I knew, but I could have sworn that I had seen these dunes before. This desert seemed sculpted of silver and metal plates. There wasn’t even any sand beneath our feet. It was almost… alien.

 

Ah! That’s it!

 

“We’re in the mindscape of Sam Witwicky!”

 

The boys peered at me curiously, wondering what had caused my outburst. I decided to elaborate. “You know, the place where he met the Primes in the second movie? After he had died near the Matrix?” Understanding dawned in their eyes. They should know it. We had watched the movie over six times just so Eliza could point out all its flaws and I could complain about all the things they did wrong. My heart clenched in my chest at the memory. Elizabeth, Aunt Alexis, Raymond, Professor Quill, Caleb, even _Thomas_ , for crying out loud… I’d never see them again. If seeing them meant they had to die, then I didn’t _want_ to see them again. That was the only thing I’d never give to see them again. Death… I couldn’t picture any of them dead.

 

But then again, I never could have pictured my Dad six feet under either.

 

Apollo slapped his head with his free palm. The sound startled me out of my funk. “Why didn’t I think of that?”

 

“You weren’. Thinkin’, I mean.” We looked down at Cade in surprise. His eyes were still a bit watery, but he had a cheeky grin on his face. “Po wasn’ thinkin’ at all.”

 

I chuckled, before looking back around me. “True that. Now, why are we here instead of heaven?” The attention swung back to me. I shrugged. “We got trapped in that cave-in, and a bunch of boulders squished us flat. And the only reason Sam came to this place was that he had passed on.” I did what I could to hide the impact those words had on myself. My saying it seemed to make it more… real. I didn’t want it to be real.

 

The mood darkened. Then, the ground began to shake. “Children, children. Bickering won’t aid you.”

I tightened my grip on my family and looked up, and my mouth fell open. A beautiful femme towered over us, bright magenta optics soft and sweet. Long lavender armour hugged her frame, and her famed Forge was held loosely in her right servo. I recognized her immediately. How could I _not_ with how much of my childhood, bright and beautiful like a distant star, had been impacted by her kind?

 

“ _Solus Prime_.”

 

I fell to the ground to kneel on one knee, one hand resting on the ground, and another on my thigh. My head bowed in respect. I could _feel_ the _amusement-fondness-bittersweetness_ in her EM field. Don’t ask me how, but I could feel it rolling over like honeyed nectar. Even more potent than my own comparatively pale emotions. It was quite honestly breathtaking. My brother, I knew, was continuing to gape up at the female Prime and from what I could tell from my position Cade had hidden behind his leg.

 

“This one seems to know her history, despite it not being of her species.” Another voice joined, and a field overlapped Solus’. It was tinged with _respect-mourning-pride-experience_ and reminded me of what I always imagined a scholar to sound like. I risked a peek up to the mech. Two cybertronians flanked the femme Prime, one a tall bearded mech about two helms taller than Solus, holding a thick book in his arm, and the other a gleaming white warrior that was almost double her size.

 

“Alpha Trion, Prima,” I gave each of them a nod before ducking my head back down. Cade let out a little gasp of surprise. His curiosity made my lips twitch upwards before flattening back out into a neutral expression that shielded me like a mask. The third’s EM field, which had been whirling around me in a tempest of _calm-muted pain-authority_ , was pulled back to hug Prima like a cloak. I appreciated it. It had been pressing me down into the ground with its weight.

 

“Wait a second. But- you’re not real. None of you are real!”, Apollo squawked in an attempt to hide his shock, but he was too imbalanced to do so. I shot him a scathing glare, and he ducked in embarrassment. A dry chuckle arose from Prima.

 

“Not in your universe perhaps, but here we are very real.”

 

“Um, excuse me.” They all looked my way, and I could feel myself shrink from the sheer power of their stares. “But what are we doing here?”

 

Solus was the one to speak this time. “Because we wish to offer you a choice.” Her soft voice carried throughout the desert despite its volume. “To either return to your world and pass on, or to find yourselves a place in a new one.”

 

This seemed to become more and more like a fanfiction with each passing moment, I thought wryly.

 

“What’s the catch?” Apollo’s voice was heavy but emotionless. He likely was going into shock at the news of them being dead. He had gone like that when _he_ took our father from us as well. Oh, gods. Aunt Alexis was going to be grief-stricken, especially now that both her only son and the last remnants of her brother were gone. I didn’t want to think about the implications.

 

Alpha Trion stepped up and motioned for me to rise. I complied with his request. “Given how your organic forms have been destroyed and can no longer sustain life, you would have to live on in the frames of Cybertronians. Three Seekers, to be precise.”

 

“What’s with the decision to make us Seekers?”, I asked. It didn’t make all too much sense. “Haven’t they all joined the Decepticons, save for perhaps the Aerialbots?” They weren’t expecting us to raise Cade whilst joining the Decepticons, did they?

 

“You would have a choice on which side you join, or if you wish to avoid the war altogether. However, you would only be in youngling frames, and young Cade would be a sparkling.” The choice seemed logical, but that still didn’t answer my original question.

 

“And Seekers are notoriously protective of their young, which is a category you all would fit into.” Ah. Now it made sense.

 

I traded a look with my twin, then we both lowered our gaze down to our oblivious cousin. Right then and there, we both came to a wordless agreement. Maybe the Primes approached our father as well. Maybe they offered him a chance to live anew. Maybe he took it. Maybe in this world that they would send us to live, we could finally be a real family again. And Cade needed this. We wouldn’t doom our new charge to death’s cold embrace, not when we had a chance to fix things.

 

“We accept.”

 

A bright light overcame my senses, and I crumpled to my knees due to the burning agony racing through my body. I couldn’t sense my siblings, and panic began to overcome me.

 

“ **Arise, Artemis of Vos. Your trine mates Apollo and Escapade await you. May you live your lives in peace and prosperity.**

 

**Good luck, and**

 

 **‘Till all are one.** ”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm looking for a beta, so message me if you're open!


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